Prof Russell H. Kaschula, Prof Monwabisi K. Ralarala, and Prof Zannie Bock and at the book launch. Image: Shelley Christians

A groundbreaking new book is challenging traditional academic frameworks and advocating for a radical reimagining of knowledge creation in higher education. Titled "Unlocking the Chains of Knowledge: Understanding the Challenges, Remaking Pedagogies and Curriculum Renewal," the work brings together leading scholars to explore decolonial approaches in academia. Edited by prominent professors from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the University of Cape Town (UCT), the book critically examines curriculum transformation, pedagogy, and the role of indigenous knowledge in shaping an inclusive future for education.

The book, which is published by African Sun Press, is split into three sections, the first dealing with ‘knowledge and knowers’, which presents perspectives on decoloniality and curriculum change from the Global South. The first section contains five chapters, which range in topic from knowledge generation and thought creation in South African and Zimbabwean universities to collective autoethnographic reflections on curriculum innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically in sociology. 

Speaking at the book’s launch, which was held at the Centre for Humanities Research’s Iyatsiba Lab in Woodstock, Prof Ralarala said the work contained in the book is very important “for all of us” and will form part of the next five-year Institutional Operating Plan.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape, in conversation with Professor Zannie Bock. Image: Shelley Christians

“When it comes to the issues of ‘Learning and Teaching’, it will benefit a lot from this particular project. We can only give thanks that we all started this project, and I want to…give a special thanks to my team, professors Zannie Bock, Russel Kaschula and Pillay.

“I literally gave them instructions when we started, and said: ‘Look, this is what we have to do’, not knowing that it will land like this.

“Now this is a resource… We need to understand that our perception of reality mediates through language. If our command, our understanding, our knowledge of a particular language is poor, it goes without saying that our understanding of the world around us will be poor, conceptually. That’s why we find ourselves in this difficulty, especially if we are to unlock very critical concepts in our academic space,” said Professor Ralarala.

He said the University understands the various gaps students encounter which the University has the power to fill. Ralarala said there are a handful of people, university lecturers, who have done justice to the process of decoloniality.

Professor Simphiwe Sesanti at the launch of "Unlocking the Chains of Knowledge", held at the Centre for Humanities Research’s Iyatsiba Lab in Woodstock. Image: Shelley Christians

Professor Ralarala spoke of his admiration, as a first-year student in 1992 at UWC, for Professor Kaschula who lectured a class. “He wrote on the board, Sociology/Sociolinguistics. That’s how I got inspired to follow a career in academia”.

Professor Mantoa Motinyane, who contributed a chapter to the book about transforming linguistics, said she is proud of one of her students, Thozama Ntobela, who wrote a chapter. 

“That makes me happy because when you think about the levels and kinds of people that are represented in the book, that’s what we want to see and how we should be shaping new knowledge.

We need to bring everyone on board, instead of just professors who, in many cases, don’t go out to communities… we need people who are on the ground,” said Prof Motinyane.

Prof Kaschula said the point of a university is the creation of new knowledge, and that the book speaks to that core role.

Unlocking the Chains of Knowledge: Understanding the Challenges, Remaking Pedagogies and Curriculum Renewal. Image: Shelley Christians

“A university should not be equated to an ‘intellectual factory’, in a sort of grand scale of things where the same knowledge is pushed through the system year after year. It needs to respond to what our societal needs are at any given point. It should be a dynamic space given new and innovative knowledge on a continual basis,” said Kaschula.

UWC Rector and Vice Chancellor, Professor Robert Balfour, congratulated the editors on what he termed an important scholarly contribution.

“As the title suggests, this book is about change. It’s about interrogating systems of knowledge we’ve inherited, and its about asking important questions like, ‘How do we create our curricula to be relevant, inclusive and socially just? How do we remake pedagogies that are humanising and serve not only the privileged few but everyone who enters our institutions with the hope of learning and belonging?’, said Prof Balfour.

He said UWC is deeply engaged with these questions and knows that the curriculum is never neutral. “It carries histories, power relations and many assumptions. These need to be unlearned, some of them, and reimagined if we are serious about transformation. This book invites us to do exactly that; it brings together reflections from scholars and practitioners who know that the curriculum and its renewal isn’t simply a checklist - it’s a continuous process that is collaborative, courageous and often uncomfortable.

“It’s about shifting the centre of gravity in our institution. That means making space for the marginalised and unseen among us, for indigenous knowledges and for an honest self-reflection,” said Prof Balfour.

Images by Shelley Christians